Electric Fencing facts... For poultry

[captmark]

Hi all, I Don't know how many times this has been talked about ,only that I read alot about people having trouble with varmints both big and small going through the electrified wire like it was'nt there. I've litteraly seen even more electric fences set ups for cattle and hores used for poultry. I've kept large acreage of rooster tied out in the wilderness without any worry from ground dwelling animals, its the flying varmints that can be tough, unless you love your chickens more than hawks and owls. lol, I do. So off the top of my head, here it goes, feel free to correct and inject..

Animals have to be trained to use a electric fence, By walking each one up to it and letting them see it and sniff it and get there nose shocked, so they remember the pain of it. Also when a animal gets shocked in front of its eyes it instinctively pulls back, if a animal gets its head through before it gets shocked then it runs straight through instictively. Thats the reasoning behind predator fencing wire strands being so close together, So the animal is more than likely to stop and investigate the tight wire perimeter than start walking through. When it sniffs the tight wire strands "WAK". If wire strands are set proper, even weasals will stay clear. Start strands 1" or 2" from ground and then every 3" or 4" until you reach 3' more or less. Some may say this is over kill, but it helps me sleep alot better, without having to stick my head out the door every 5minutes and walking the chicken yard 5 times a night. Any ways electric wire is cheap in comparision.. Hope this helps

 

[Megan Amber]

Excellent information! Thanks so much for sharing it!

 

[captmark]

Thanks , I'm a newbie on the site, but I've been fighting varmints off my tie corded chickens more than a few years. So my electric fence is the only protection many of my birdies get.. Owls are the biggest threat. I like owls too, but there are ways to deal with them too.

 

[Megan Amber]

Tie corded chickens? Is that a chicken on a string? lol We have a pretty big owl problem where I live!

 

[captmark]

Yup, cord staked down in the ground, 4' so it has a circle to it self and its own house too..

 

[Megan Amber]

That sounds like a cool way to keep em! They don't get stuck on stumps and things? My dog does but if the chickens don't then I guess she is just dummer than chicken!

 

[captmark]

I try to keep em on a green lawn. So no problem from roots. Gotta have a good dog or super electric fence though. Silly chickens will let themselves get eating alive at night, without much fuss. Lol

 

[Megan Amber]

You mentioned Owls. I like them to but have lost a lot of chickens to them! If you don't mind me asking what do you do about them?

 

[captmark]

I use a dog now, But I've used a radio, stobe lights, flashing lights.. And of course, a light coil spring leg trap nailed to top of 16' 2X4 board placed in chicken yard. When Owl perches on top of 2X4 to check out next meal, its caught. then i would lower it down and net him, leg tag him. drive him far away and release him.. When i first started doing it I would put the owls in a round stag pen and I had 3 owls in my chicken yard penned up for a couple days, a old timer came to visit and said to me "You are gonna go to jail keeping those things" so i tagged them for id and drove em away.. I dont condone this, its just what worked for me at a time long ago... I was losing 2 birds a night until i did this,then I used the lights which seemed to work too....

 

[Megan Amber]

Oh Thats cool. So just having a dog out there works or do you have a certain breed and is it specially trained? By the way thanks for answering all my questions!